Mercenary with crossbow run ... and ... Huge disappoint of PoE2
" i assume this gonna get fixed but yeah i know what you mean, i found maxing out reload speed via passive nodes really helps - i have 100% faster reload and it doesnt get rid of the problem entirely but at least for me makes it fully enjoyable to play idk how viable an option that is for non-shotgun builds tho also dont hold down the attack button when it happens Last edited by Drukaris#2806 on Dec 8, 2024, 6:35:55 PM
|
|
|
I play on PC, used crossbows for a while... reloads get stucks sometimes, so you're out of ammo and its jammed, despite showing ammos. I died often because it simply wouldn’t reload anymore.
There's no controller latency here though. Maybe it's a thing on the console versions... Last edited by pyrocyborg#0256 on Dec 8, 2024, 6:36:27 PM
|
|
|
What made Crossbow better for me was discovering that Skills auto-swap your weapons! I equipped a Bow on 2nd Weapon Slot then added Escape Shot to my skill arsenal.
I took all the "shot gun" nodes (e.g. -aspd,+damage) close to the ranger nodes and skipped grenades, as I started to feel that grenades were redundant to what the crossbow aoe/cc skills offer. Focusing on chill, freeze, and mobility made the game so much easier and dynamic since I don't need to rely on dodge roll for repositioning. After getting Escape Shot, I almost never get surrounded anymore and it also combos really well with Fragmentation Rounds since Escape Shot has 300%(!) Freeze. I play with controller by the way, so I might have a large advantage. This is because of the auto-aim feature, allowing me to focus on Mobility. tl;dr; GET ESCAPE SHOT! |
|
|
Everyone was expecting PoE2 to be skill based, but with clunk, backing skills don't move enough, AoE too small, fast mobbing, Targeted 'random' AoE's from mobs, fishboowl fights with not enough room to move, or roll, or pull back (Count anyone), restrictions on gems that fix or make skills playable/usable, weird nerfed passive tree that takes 10-14 levels to make significant differences to the character, removal of many stats like resistance making them gear dependant but not taking into account that there is the same number of slots for more required volume of stats making it very 'currency dependant', bosses on higher and lower zones/levels that are disproportionally higher and lower difficulty, so that the difficulty is all over the place (Again count fight), add to this major portions of the game nerfed to compensate for later power levels, so that between that and the boss fights and this, it feels oppressive to play and the difficulty bounces around between autopilot all the way up to 'no choice but to do it this way' content that 30% of the population probably can't do and is a pain for anyone who does. Worse, the game does overall get easier as it goes along, but because of how 'fast' and 'overloaded' portions of the earlier content are, the later material feels cheesy and boring. (The count fight is once again a prime example of this.)
Above all else please fix the mechanics, IE how dodge, back-skills and knockback/stun are (not)working. I think to say that this was one of the selling points of the game is not unreasonable. Or that it would have a proportionally increased difficulty so that skill base would be a prime part of the game is not unreasonable. It was a big enticer for me. Am I alone in this? Playing 'jailtime' for 30 levels and then becoming strong enough to facetank and go godmode spam is not it. Overpowered or Godmode should be level 92+ and First 20-25 levels should be smooth and fun, making a person feel comfortable. Even if your goal is to turn them into a grinding robot............ Universal Law - Balance
|
|
|
I died once with the Count Fight because I didn't know that
Spoiler
there's a 2nd phase
|
|
" Oh, I never try this but this sound ..... interesting. I guess it should also work with raise shield for negate some hit. I try to like the crossbow, I really do. But the problem with random interrupt reload, randomly need longer than the screen show reload time, slight pause between shot due to latency more than other weapon make me really want to switch to bow and done with it. I hope everyone not experience this dread. Slow in, slow out cuz I'm just a player.
-------------------------------------------- |
|
|
I understand what you're saying and felt the same; my main character is also a Mercenary (Lvl 27 at the moment). At level 22, I think I unlocked the Ascendancy and allocated a couple of points to have a 10% chance for enemies to explode upon death, which is pretty effective, honestly, smoothed drastically dealing with big swarms of enemies, in fact now I try to gather as much as possible before starting to waste ammo, so it increases the chances of chain explode everything.
But before unlocking Ascendancy, I stuck to using the shotgun-like ammo and throwing poison grenades with passives to reduce armor, while backpedaling if I needed to escape. All other ammo types seemed inferior in raw damage. Perhaps later, with more passives and better gear, builds could focus more on elemental damage. Regarding damage, I find it quite solid. It hits hard overall and stuns bosses quickly, which, even if the stun isn't fully utilized, is always helpful. In general, the main problem I encountered was Mercenary felt like it lacked synergy between abilities, we have a lot of options but there is no reward for combining them. You simply load the highest-damage ammo and spam it (which was the shotgun-like ammo all the way). Grenades are slow and even bounce off enemies, so you have to learn to throw them well in advance. Often, they’re best thrown backward to lure enemies into the explosion zone. That’s why I opted for poison grenades—it’s "easy" to leave poison clouds and guide enemies through them. With the fire damage aura, you can sometimes trigger explosions from the poison clouds, creating strong area burst damage. At level 27 (where I am now), the damage across different ammo types has started to feel more balanced. Still, I use one type for AoE and another for single target. The mechanic of rolling before reloading feels really bad if not aware as you mentioned, but once you keep it in mind, it adds a layer of difficulty. You either wait to roll, hold off on firing the last shot, or roll and reload quickly—it all depends on the situation. The Mercenary feels more monotonous than it really is due to the gameplay loop of constantly reloading, which forces you to retreat while doing so. This creates "dead" moments that make it tedious. Adding to this, early on, you might not yet realize that rolling cancels the reload animation, leading to confusion. You’re left with enemies swarming you, a grenade too slow to be useful, and only the option to auto-attack + reload until the pack is dealt with—or they deal with you first, with the handicap that you are already behind in "timing". To conclude, once you have more skills and ammo options, are familiar with reload timing, and have a good sense of enemy durability, the experience changes significantly. The character starts to feel impactful, with every shot carrying weight, every ammo choice being perfect for the situation, and grenades being used proactively. Adding passive abilities and better gear further enhances the gameplay, making the character much more balanced and enjoyable. A little tweak to make the early 20 levels a bit more "engaging?" with the Mercenary's mecanic would be appreciated, I wonder how they would do it, time will tell. Last edited by Zinfé#3237 on Dec 9, 2024, 1:41:54 PM
|
|
" I believe they design mercenary to be the way you describe. A versatile and rewarding for choosing different ammo to fit the situation. Combo them to make it very rewarding. But for early, crossbow is just too clunky. Rolling interrupt the reload need to be gone completely as it serve nothing and other weapon are not handicap like this. I wish they tweak crossbow to be more fluid and flow. Also, Crossbow node seem a little bit too far. Switch instant reload with Star aligned (low life dmg node) may help a lot. Slow in, slow out cuz I'm just a player.
-------------------------------------------- |
|
" Nice thought on the swaping weapons for utility skills, didn't know it auto-changed the weapon without penalties. For us, casuals, seems to be a lot of things yet to discover... |
|
" stay toxic my friend, im sure that will make you live longer. |
|
